Roles
Unit Support Mechs: *****: Osprey ***: Chopper **: Bomber, Saucer, Striker *: Neo, Warthog Unit support essentially means outpost-healing (plus ability healing with Osprey), though there is also a degree of blocking and placement, and in the case of the Chopper, defensive area denial. Insofar as this role is offensive (apart from what is meant to be the game-ending push), it is via artillery and, somewhat, bombs. A Unit Support player belongs on the front line of the battle, indeed, played correctly the Unit Support player's location is the front line of the battle. He should be in one of two places: hovering over his own team's main army, healing, moving, and building – and pushing, or at the door of his own base, healing, moving, and building against a push from the other team's army. Unit Support is generally the role that does not (want to) react to the other team's actions, other than their attempt to win a match with an all-in push; it is precisely to take the Unit support away from supporting units, that is often why the other team might act aggressively without going all-in, as by ninja-dropping or close-capping. Unit Killer Mechs: ******: Bomber ****: Chopper, Saucer (Abducting), Warthog ***: Saucer (Non-Abducting), Striker **: Neo *: Osprey Where the Unit Support player maintains his army's integrity, the Unit Killer works on destroying that of his opponent's. Contrary to the preceding role's name, the Unit Killer is the real “support” role, as killing units is not truly useful in itself, but rather as a way to ensure the survival of your own. Unit Killers then want to be in one of three places: supporting the main army by destroying the enemy army, supporting outpost capture by destroying outpost defenses, or as with the Unit Support, defending his base against an enemy push. Unit Killers generally do not want to be distracted from their jobs by the other team, but should do so at a higher priority than Unit Support players/mechs. Outpost Capture (AKA Inf Spaaaam) Mechs: ****: Neo ***: Saucer, Striker, Warthog **: Bomber, Osprey *: Chopper Harassment Mechs: ******: Bomber ****: Neo, Warthog ***: Osprey (Dropping), Striker, Saucer **: Chopper *: Osprey (Non-Dropping) (Note: what distinguishes Harassing from the earlier Unit-Killing role? Unit Killers are not afraid of AA, as they are often close to their own army/outposts for healing, and because it is the enemy's AA/tanks/etc. That are the Unit Killers primary targets. A Harasser however wants to pick off unprotected units at the enemy base, or just do anything that will pull enemy attention away from where it should be.) Dogfighting Mechs: *****: Chopper (People Who Don't Run), Saucer (Blinking) ****: Neo, Saucer (Non-Blinking), Warthog (People Who Don't Run) ***: Bomber, Striker **: Chopper (People Who Run), Osprey *: Warthog (People Who Run) Floater Outpost Capture (AKA Inf Spaaaam)/Harassment/Dogfighting Outpost Capture, Harassment and Dogfighting are three roles united and dominated by three mechs: Neo, Saucer, and Striker. (Warthog, being good enough/excellent at two of these roles though terrible at the third, is still enough of a “Floater” in that the first role – Outpost Capture – is easily the most important thing a Floater can do in a game.) The Floater wants to be everywhere, all at once. There is (almost) always something for a Floater to do, so it may be the most difficult role to play “optimally”. He seeks weakness, and he exploits it – but he does not make it; that is the job of the Unit Killer. This, then, is the Floater's weakness – where there is no weakness to exploit, he is not suited to making one. (Unless his is also a Unit Killer, whether as a result of mech or pilot choice.) The first goal of the Floaters is seeking vulnerable outposts, i.e., any outpost with a free door. When it is possible to stuff infantry in there, he should be doing so, at a pretty much higher priority than anything else. If there are no free doors – anywhere – that's when the Floater seeks Unit Killer support, or does it himself as the Warthog. The Floater's secondary goal is engaging other Floaters. As Unit-Support and Unit Killer players/mechs are generally opposed to each other, Floaters are all opposed to other Floaters. Ninja-dropping, pad-unit-sniping, etc., are all tools of the Floater, and seeking out and countering these things is something the Floater is best able to do. Contrary to the other roles, the Floater does not necessarily want to react to a major push from the enemy team (even though he does want to react to ninja-drops and harassment). Good players know that a push may fail, even if supported by the team, and will often use the opportunity of the other team's dealing with it to take map control – giving up the possibility of immediate victory to ensure an eventual victory. Both doing this, and stopping it, are the Floater's roles, as a Floater is not the best at healing his own units nor destroying the other team's. Therefore, when being pushed the Floater should watch for outpost capture attempts from the other team, leaving defense to the rest of his team; and on offense, the Floater should take whatever outposts the enemy has left, leaving the attack support to the rest of his team. The Floater is also a highly map-dependent role. On bigger maps, there is always something demanding the Floater's attention; on the smallest maps, it is possible for there to be nothing demanding a Floater's attention. On Vale and Twin Peaks, Floaters are completely dominant. The outpost distances are so great, a good floater will lock down non-/inferior floaters at whatever outposts they have, then take those outposts and push the enemy into oblivion. On Sandrim and Thar, Floaters are dominant, but at least possibly vulnerable. In this case, their ability to take outposts faster than non-Floater mechs means map control is invariably theirs; the question then is whether they can deal with whatever army the other team is able to build in spite of this. Floaters get weaker on Duel and Nesthorn, where fewer outposts and shorter distances allow non-Floaters to both defend their outposts and make it to those outposts safely. Finally, on Simple, “true-Floater” mechs – Neo and Saucer – lose almost all of their worth, as the role is largely non-existent, leaving those mechs to do unit-killing/support at an inferior ability to the mechs specialized for it.